Tuesday, December 30, 2014

It was sooo good to see you guys :) Man I sure love you, and have been blessed with a great family. It was different and hard being away from home, but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. This season my thoughts were focused more on the reason of Christmas. My heart just bursts with gratitude for Our Savior, and his wonderful day of Birth!

After we got off the phone with you the Dawbins had a lobster tail for Sister Collins and I to share, and it seriously was so delicious! My goodness!! It was so nice of them to have us over on Christmas to skype you guys.

Haha anyways we've had a busy few days and have worked so hard, and talked to alot of people. We have the cutest street in our area, and it is SO fun to get to go street contacting. There is a ton of cute shops and bakery's down the street. And its quite enjoyable to talk with people on it (even though some are very ornery) I bought me a new bright green beanie for Christmas, I've actually worn it quite a bit, its super cute. We met a friend street contacting and have seen him a couple of different days this week, each time we've ran into each other I've been wearing the beanie. So now when he sees us coming he'll yell "hey girl in the green beanie!" Its kind of funny :) I am praying for him so hard, and I really want him to listen to our message! Such a nice man.

I have seen a few times this week, that the Lord has put people in Sister Collins and I's path that really do need us and a friend. I know we can all be instruments for Jesus Christ if we just ask! I'm so thankful for prayer and to know I have a Father in Heaven that is there to help me day in and day out. I know he is anxiously waiting for us to pray to him and to help us.

We had some good meals at members this week, and its always fun to give them a lesson while we're there. I am learning so much, and my love for the gospel strengthens more and more every day. Sunday's are one of my favorite days out here, It's good to go partake of the sacrament and its fun to see familiar faces, and many people I have become to love so much! My companion and I taught The Gospel Principles Class, which I felt like it went super good, and I could definitely feel the spirit in the room!

I'm very thankful to be out here on my mission. I know this is where my Heavenly Father needed me to be at this time in my life. I'm beyond thankful that families can be together forever, it brings so much peace and comfort to my heart! I love you all so very much, and I pray for you daily! Thanks for the love you send my way, I sure have a great family and friends and an amazing 4th ward family! It truly means so much. I'm so thankful for this gospel, and I know its true, and I know The Book Of Mormon is true, and I'm beyond grateful I have time set aside each day to study it. It's such a special book that I love very much. I am thankful for the people that I get to teach, I'm learning and growing right along with them! I know that The Gospel Of Jesus Christ can bring us more happiness into our lives by knowing that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us.. LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!

Taylie found my old dresser at a house and it made her miss me so she took a picture :)

She says Armando is totally her BFF. They celebrated his Christmas Eve birthday!

Companions on Christmas!

The Ward Mission Leaders. They treat them so great!

It was so great to be able to Skype Taylie. She has such a glow about her, and you can tell how incredibly strong her testimony has become in just two months! She misses home at times, but is really enjoying her mission! She said her and her companion thought it would be fun to go and eat somewhere good for Christmas lunch, and then realized everything was closed! They finally found a Denny's and said it was a lot of fun. :) She told us some spiritual moments she had, and told us how the Book of Mormon has the answers to so many questions we may have. We laughed together and little Camden kept saying "Hi Tay Tay" to the TV. I think it was the fastest hour of our lives! We could have talked to her all day, but are so grateful she is staying busy and happy and loving these experiences. We are all grateful for the people in Maine who are looking after and loving these Sisters! What a great Christmas gift to hear that voice and laugh once again! Mother's Day can't come soon enough!

Monday, December 22, 2014

I can't wait to see you guys over Skype for an hour :) Such a beautiful and sacred day to reflect on our Saviors birth :)

This week has been swell! Monday we had a family home evening lesson, which those are always my favorite! It's a blast to get to know these cute families. This sweet family is moving to North Dakota for work right after Christmas, and its breaking their hearts, and mine. It's so sad to see how badly they don't want to move! I wrote Aunt Wendy a letter telling them where they were moving to, so hopefully they will be close and can go on lunch dates, and go to church together! North Dakotas a big place, but I'm praying that they will be close. Tuesday we had an awesome hospital service and made cute little treats for some of the patients, which I really really enjoyed :) We also showed Elliot the Family History website and taught him all about that. I was learning right along with him, such a cool thing to look into! Wednesday we got a new district, which will be great! It's always so fun to meet new Elders and Sisters, and to hear their testimonies! We have a set of senior sisters in our district both from Utah! They took us to lunch at Chipotle on Saturday, and it was so fun to get to know more about them, very sweet ladies. It was crazy to see all the crazy shoppers at some of the stores around where we ate lunch. I kind of forgot how busy of a time of year this is! We did a ton of tracting this week, and worked hard. I love to do that, its fun to talk to new people and if we get lucky we get to share a Christmas message with them. For our service on Thursday we wrapped presents at Barnes and Noble for an hour, and I really enjoyed that! (but I totally suck at wrapping presents, lol)

I have seen so many miracles this week. I have seen the Lord put people in our path that truly do need to hear about the gospel. I wish I could just call you up and tell you about all the experiences I am having, me typing them down just doesn't do them justice.. Truly I am learning so much, and am really loving this mission. The ward Christmas program was great yesterday, just a great spirit in the sacrament meeting. I love the ward, and am going to be sad when I have to say good bye to them. We had an awesome week where we had a lot of dinner appointments with members and families. They seriously are very kind and Christlike people. Some meals are wonderful, and some not so much haha but I'm thankful for them! It's been a great week, my testimony really is growing each and every single day. I had the most spiritual experience I've ever had in my life this week, and it was a big testimony builder to me. As hard as it will be to not be home for Christmas, I'm thankful to be having these experiences, and to be able to serve others. This Gospel is amazing, and I know all we need to do is have Trust in God and all will work out. The Book Of Mormon answers a lot of my questions, and I'm beyond grateful for that book. I can't wait for Thursday to see all of your beautiful faces!! :) Love you guys so much!!

Sister Bee

Cute Santa hats the Sisters made for the patients at the hospital!

Service with a smile!

She said this is the only thing she'll be flirting with for these 18 months :)

I think she misses her mom!

Pina Coladas with the Dawbin family.

She said there are random turkeys wandering everywhere!

We are sooo excited to be able to talk to Tay on Christmas and see her cute face! She is doing so well, and we are so happy she is loving doing the Lord's work. Onward and upward Sister Bee!

Monday, December 15, 2014

We have two sets of Elders in our ward, and one of the sets are being transferred so we will be getting a bigger area! I am now serving in a bunch of towns including Augusta, Chelsea, Hallowell (such a cute town) Manchester, and Windsor Maine! Which this is so great because that means lots more people to teach and a lot of new investigators. I am loving doing the Lords work. Don't get me wrong there are your hard times, but this week I actually started to cry because I was SO happy! I feel very blessed to be here. Things are going really well right now :) There was a scripture that one of the Elders in my ward shared with me, he is from Layton Utah, and a way cool kid. It is Helaman 5:40-42. It talks about a cloud of darkness that is over their heads (which I think we have all felt like that at one time or another in our life.) It goes on to say if we repent, and pray to God, with having faith in Christ that the cloud of darkness will be removed from our heads. I loved that so much because I know it to be true. God is there for us, and if we do the things he asks of us, he is ALWAYS there to help us. I know it to be true. I know I say this every week, but I'm going to repeat it cause I know with all my heart that we have a Father in Heaven and his Son that love us more then anything, and they want to hear from us and the desires of our hearts. Sometimes I wish we could just see ourselves through Heavens eyes, because I can't even imagine how Heavenly Father sees us.

I loves The Book Of Mormon and I love especially making it personal to our lives right now. There are so many stories in there that we can learn from and that can relate to us now.I know if we abide by its precepts, and try our best The Lord will bless us. Its probably one of my favoritest (if that's a word) things to teach people about.

I don't remember if I told you this in a past email, but we knocked on a door and found a family to teach!! It's simply the best thing ever, like ever! They have two boys, and one is 7 hehe (baptism age;). Wonderful family, and the Husband has a lot of deep questions and alot of questions of the soul. When he talks my heart beat super super fast, but I feel like Sister Collins and I work really well together and have the spirit with us to answer his questions. We ended up having to tell him last time "well we don't know everything, we're just hear to tell you what we do know." We've met with them a few times, and have another appointment. I love all the investigators and people we teach. I love meeting new people and love getting to know there stories. It's simply the greatest. I can feel my testimony getting stronger and stronger everyday. This week we also taught wonderful Elliot (recent convert) about temples! It was amazing to see his light an excitement when we told him all about it. The only thing he was disappointed about was it had to be a year after baptism until you could receive your endowments. How cute huh? I sure love that man, and I sure love the temples. What a sacred and amazing thing to have here on this earth. I'm so thankful that families can be together forever through the temples ordinances. We showed him a picture of Temple Square at Christmas time and he was amazed, he said it will be a place he travels in a few years when were off our missions so we can meet up and show him around, how cool huh!!

Thank you for all the love and support. I can't wait to see all of your beautiful faces on Christmas :) Can I get a Woot Woot! Oh and guess what? So I was talking with this lady in the ward about Utah and how much I love Costa Vida. Well she found a recipe on pinterest for the sweet pork salads and will be making Sister Collins and I them tomorrow! How nice huh?? Talk about an angel on earth ;) have an awesomeeee week!

Sister Bee

Taylie's District at Red Robin! She has been able to meet with them every Wednesdayfor 6 weeks and has loved getting to know them and hear their testimonies!

From Tay: We had exchanges this week! Sister T, came to Augusta with me for a day and a half which was GREAT!She is an amazing amazing Sister, and I learned SO much from her. Way cool, and strong testimony. We got along so well, and I know she will be one of my friends forever!

Monday, December 8, 2014

It's December already? SO crazy to me. I hope you are all getting into the Christmas spirit! I can't wait to hear your voices on Christmas :) Thank you all so much for the emails, I really love hearing about your week. Even the small stuff is so great! I know I say this a lot but I really do thank my Heavenly Father every day for giving me such a good family, and friends.

This week has been a good one! We do service in the cafeteria at The Maine General Hospital which is pretty neat. Except we had to stack things in the freezer, and Sister Collins and I looked like Rudolph when we walked out.

We also had an awesome lesson with Elliot on the Hope Of Gods Light. The spirit was so strong. The member that went with us to the lesson was really touched by the lesson, and it ended up being more for her than Elliot. I do know with everything that I am that Jesus Christ is the light and life of the world. Its such a good time of the year to remember that! Its amazing to see people change, and I'm thankful I can watch them. I know that The Gospel Of Jesus Christ does bring HOPE and HAPPINESS into our lives.

We also had interviews with the President which was good to see him and his wife! I got to meet the Sister Training Leaders which was awesome as well! After that we had a few meetings and taught a Book Of Mormon Class to some of the members. Then we had Choir practice after. We were seriously at the Church all day!

We did some more service this week at a Literacy center which was fun! Some of the students that need extra help reading were there, and its fun to get to know some of them! We also did a lot of tracting, and ran into a new investigator! I'm excited to start teaching her. She is super nice, and we shared a short Christmas message with her. You guys have to go onto christmas.mormon.org and watch "He Is The Gift". Such an amazing video! It really helps us remember what Christmas is all about.. I'm so thankful for my Savior. I know he loves all of us SO much. He made such a sacrifice for us, which I am eternally grateful for! I have felt so close to my Savior this season. I know that if we seek out to know him, he will come to us as well.

A member made us Breakfast for dinner one night and it was seriously amazing. She said she had been cooking for two days! Delicious. We all shared our favorite scriptures at the end, and I realized it is impossible to just have one! We had our Ward Christmas Party which was way fun! Except is rained the WHOLE day. I had never seen anything like that! Way fun party tho, and way cool ward! I wanted to hold all the babies there tho, ahh the struggle is real! ;) Sunday was a good day too, with it being fast Sunday and all. Sister Collins and I taught the 11 year olds again, which is always a blast. We also got to listen to the Christmas Devotional at the church later that night. Which was great! I truly am so thankful for Christ this time of the year. Hope you all have a great week! I love you so so much!!

Sister Bee

Thick ice! She says they pretty much ice skate everywhere in Maine!

She loves her companion!

Sister Morgan and Sister Bee

Meeting so many fun Sisters.

Taylie loves this Sister who has a goofy side like her! hahashe says she has an amazing testimony and gets to spend twodays this week with her!

Tay got to see her friend Sister Farley again- happy day!

The Sister Training Leaders. Taylie says they are amazing and can't waitto go on exchanges with them this week!

On P-day they had an epic nerf gun war with the other Elders and Sisters!

Monday, December 1, 2014

So I ordered these boots from llbean. When they got to the apartment they were HUGE! I'm pretty sure dad could of fit in them ;) I was worried on what to do cause there is not an llbean in our area. I knew I would need the boots soon too. I was talking to this lady in the ward and she told me she worked at llbean. HOLLA!! I asked her to return them for me, and she gladly said it would be no problem. A week later we came up with a meeting place. we met her and she told me that the boots I had ordered were out of stock and wouldn't be in until February. She goes on to tell me they have an employee store with returned cheap items. She pulled out a size nine pair of boots. I was worried they'd be too small, but I slipped them on and they fit just right! she found these boots in there for $7.00!! She told me she had been watching all week and no boots were in there. On the last day as she was walking by she saw a worker putting out a pair of boots so she ran over there. My size and for cheap! She grabbed them for me and put my money on a gift card, so I have a nice gift card to llbean. Is there any in Utah? Anyways I was so happy and grateful for these boots. They have kept my feet warm so far and are cute too. haha I truly do feel like Heavenly Father answered my prayers and led her into these boots!

This week was a little bit frustrating. We had two snow days, where we weren't aloud to drive anywhere.The roads were too slick! Church even got canceled cause of the weather which was a super bummer! When we tract it takes a lot to get people to talk to you and to listen to what you have to say. So it just makes you extra grateful when you run into someone that wants to listen!

I had the opportunity to teach Elliot about Patriarchal blessings this week. Which was amazing!! Its so fun to share things I've known about. He is working towards getting his. As I prepared to teach him the lesson, I studied mine A LOT. I am so thankful for that stinkin blessing. It helps me through so much. It really is a blessing just for us. I do know Heavenly Father knows us personally and he knows what we need to hear in life. They're amazing, and I'm thankful that from The Gospel Of Jesus Christ we have the priesthood and can get blessings.

We shoveled off a ton of cars this week, and scraped lots of windows. On thanksgiving we woke up to snow and so for the first part of the day that's what we did. I love helping others, and I know you really do find joy by serving Gods children. My favorite thing is when they ask why we helped them, we get to say cause we're missionaries from THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATER DAY SAINTS!!

I love that we have two hours of study time in the morning. There is always something to learn about. I know this gospel is true with ALL of my heart. I'm thankful for this opportunity that I have to share it with others, and to serve others. I love this time of the year, and I hope you all know how thankful I am for YOU!! Happy Holidays :)

Love you all so very much. Know you are in my prayers!

Sister Bee

Here is an overload of pictures! Tay finally got around to sending some. :)

Taylie and some of her friends from class at the MTC.

Taylie meeting her Mission President and wife for the first time. She loves them!

Sister Farrley and Taylie became great friends at the MTC. She is from Oregon.

Pretty doors in Maine!

After a new missionary meeting, they got to have Arbys! She was also so excited to see Sister Farrley again!

Sister Collins and Taylie

Taylie and the Sisters in her district!

Taylie and Elliott! She loves this guy and his excitement to learn more about the Gospel.

Celebrating her one month mark by holding a crab.

Better get used to this snow!

Sister Harrington had the Sisters over for Thanksgiving. This is her with her mom.Taylie was so grateful to have a family to be around on that day.

Pretty sky in Maine calls for a selfie ;)

Tracting in Chelsea, Maine. She can't get over the beauty of that place!